Control Bun - Fire

The poem “Control Burn” in Turtle Island discusses fire and its role in conjunction with the land. It is
described as “an old story” and “a hot clean burn,” phrases that tell of an ancient power. I like this
poem because of the imagery it uses and how it paints a story of fire being a force of both destruction
and life. Fire is said out all of the old growth, burning the land and wiping it clean. Bu at the same time,it is in this destruction that new life comes. For it is only under the right circumstances, after the
old/dead growth is gone, can new life take root. These images and this concept made me think about
Jesus’ parable about the vine and the fruit, where He says that those who are faithful will be pruned so it bears more fruit, demonstrating the necessity sometimes of cutting off in order to grow even more.

This also made me think about how this concept is present in nature. In many ways, nature is more
logical than humans. If a plant is growing a bad part, it lets it die and fall off, and then thrives all the
more without it. People, on the other hand, are ruled by emotions and feelings, and so we would never do such a thing. In fact, we often keep things around us that are not good for us or have extremely detrimental effects. For example, staying in a bad relationship or not treating our bodies right. I have now strayed a bit from the poem that first sparked these thoughts. But to come back to it, I conclude that it was a nice reminder of the power of nature, particularly fire, and the lessons we can learn from it.